Friends Bulletin-Pacific and North Pacific Yearly Meetings of the Religious Society of Friends-July and August 1980

Friends Bulletin

PACIFIC AND NORTH PACIFIC YEARLY MEETINGS OF THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS
Volume 49, Number 10 July, 1980

Welcome to Pacific Yearly Meeting

The thirty-fourth annual gathering of Pacific
Yearly Meeting will convene in Chico, California,
on August 4, 1980. We will be coming from a year
torn by an aching world: Iran, Russia, Korea, Cuba,
countries of South America have commanded our
attention; starvation and subversion, domestic econ-
omic crisis, the draft, elections without true choice
-all have distressed us. We come together to encour-
age one another and to affirm again the redemptive
power of God’s love.

Let us come readily, joyously, openly, bringing
with us acute awareness of the world’s suffering.

It will be partly in our awareness of suffering that
we will find strength, in our willingness to accept
sorrow that we will find joy. This cannot be
a Yearly Meeting of easy solutions. We are ordinary
beings, having to find our way through extraordin-
ary challenges. We need each other; we also need
to be confirmed in the faith that God is our rock
and our salvation.

Care for social justice and for peace will be
strongly with us. Both the Peace Committee and
the Social Order Committee have chosen “What
sayest thou?” as their theme. The Discipline Com-
mittee and Ministry and Oversight will lead us to
consider the rock on which we stand. Young
Friends call us to renewed understanding of what
gathers us and how we discern the will of God. We
will hear the first fruits of the Fund for Concerns.

We will meet in worship, remembering that true
worship requires that we be present to the Power
beyond ourselves, open to receive new insight, and
ready to act when that is required of us. Let us
gather in faithfulness and truth.

Eleanor Foster, Clerk

Qiico Comments

By Eleanor Foster, Clerk
Pacific Yearly Meeting

A rhythm of worship -fellowship, plenary ses-
sions, interest groups, worship, and then plenary
session again, will fill the days at Pacific Yearly
Meeting.

Several special sessions are worth noting. The
Young Friends have prepared two panel discussions
for all to participate in, one on Tuesday early eve-
ning, “What Is Your Experience of a Gathered
Meeting?” and one on Thursday morning, “Dis-
covering God’s Will in Your Life.” The second one
will, unfortunately, coincide with Representative
Committee; but if business is swift, the Committee
is invited to join the panel late.

Wednesday morning has been reserved again for
quiet and reflection. Friends are encouraged to
enter into and enjoy the spirit of silence, particu-
larly in Craig Hall, where the main Meeting Room
will be held open for meditation from 10:00 to
12:00. Gordon and Bradley Hall lounges will be
available for those who wish to visit. For those
who wish to continue silence at the vigil or else-
where, box lunches will be available as ordered.

All are invited to participate in a Hiroshima Day
Vigil arranged by the Peace Committee.

Interest Groups promise to be particularly signi-
ficant this year. A concern from Visalia Meeting
for the conservation of resources will be heard in
an interest session developed by the Social Order
Committee on the relationship of energy to war.

La Jolla Meeting has initiated, and is continuing
responsibility for, a particular concern for a visit
to Russia, and in support of their concern. Peace
Committee is planning a special interest session.
Both Social Order Committee and Peace Committee
will address questions of the draft. The Fund for
Concerns has opened the way already for two
undertakings, and Ministry and Oversight will
present these in special interest sessions.

Meetings for Worship have a centering and cen-
tral place throughout the week, and will provide a
focal point for our experience together.

We can’t leave without “Community Night,” a
time for us to have fun, express our appreciation
for each other, and to enjoy our Family of
Friends. But be careful, “You might catch George
Pox!”

PAGE 154 - JULY, 1980

FRIENDS BULLETIN

FRIENDS BULLETIN

(USPS 859-220)

319 Byxbee St., San Francisco, CA 94132
Telephone: (415)585-7884
Shirley Ruth, Editor
Jeanne Lohmann, Associate Editor
722 10th Ave., San Francisco, CA 94118
Alice Miles, Corresponding Editor, NPYM
8900 Libby Rd. N.E., Olympia, WA 98506
Mary Millman, Corresponding Editor, NPYM
1 1 07 Sitka St., Newberg, OR 97 1 32

The official organ of news and opinion of Pacific Yearly
Meeting and North Pacific Yearly Meeting of the Religious
Society of Friends.

Second class postage paid at San Francisco, California.

PUBLISHED monthly except February and August at 319
Byxbee St., San Francisco, CA 94132. All correspondence,
editorial and subscription, should be directed to the mailing
address above. Deadline for copy is fifth of the month pre-
ceding month of issue.

SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $7.00 per year. First class post-
age $9.80 per year. Single copies $1 .00 postpaid. Monthly
Meetings are encouraged to collect and subscribe for all
their members. Contributions beyond subscription price
are welcomed to help meet actual costs and reduce Yearly
Meeting subsidies. Ail contributions are tax deductible;
receipts sent on request.

, printed by

- American FrierxJs Service Committee
^ San Francisoo

Drawings by Grace Meyers
Santa Monica Meeting

NORTH PACIFIC YEARLY MEETING OFFICERS

Presiding Clerk: Helen Stritmatter, 8031 124th Ave., N.E.,
Kirkland, WA 98502

Steering Committee Clerk: Ann Stever, 715 37th Ave;,
Seattle, WA 98122

Treasurer: Harold Carson, 9102 Fortune Dr.,*Mercer Island,
WA 98040

PACIFIC YEARLY MEETING OFFICERS

Presiding Clerk: Eleanor Foster, 1 18 Miles St., Santa Cruz,
CA 95060

Assistant Clerk; MickI Graham, 4230 Hargrave, Santa Rosa,
CA 95401

Treasurers: Maureen and Stratton Jaquette, 258 Cherry
Avenue, Los Altos, CA 94022
Registrar: Sheila Moran, 1236 Bonita, Berkeley, CA 94709
Arrangements Clerk; Ernest Von Seggern, Rt. 4, Box 625-J,
Grass Valley, CA 95945

Junior Yearly Meeting Clerk; Larry Hamelin, 2444 Carmel.

Oakland, CA 94602

Young Friends Clerks: Jim Navarro, P.O. Box 4411, San
Rafael, CA 94903
Martine Ernst, LC Box 674,
Portland, OR 97219

inTermountain yearly meeting officers

Presiding Clerk; Gilbert White, Sunshine Canyon,

Boulder, CO 80302

Continuing Committee Clerk: Tony Umile, 247 Pratt St.,

Longmont, CO 80501

Registrar: Betty Herring, 2581 Briarwood Dr., Boulder,

CO 80303

“We Shall Not Cease From Exploration ...”

Tlie wonder begins again as Friends gather in
the western states for Intermountain Yearly Meet-
ing June 12-15 at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New
Mexico, for North Pacific Yearly Meeting July 17-
20 at St. Martin’s College near Olympia, Washing-
ton, and for Pacific Yearly Meeting August 4-9 at
Craig Hall in Chico, California. Your editor begins
this Feast of Friends by flying to New Mexico as
this issue is typeset, to Seattle in July, and then
driving to Chico in August.

We round out the publishing year by conclud-
ing in this issue our series of presentations made
by Friends at the Theology Workshop held last
August at Chico. Madge Seaver, in her travels with
Ben Seaver as Brinton Visitors, has spoken often
this year on the themes of Quaker Contemplation,
Religious Education, and Community. Here she
draws from the writings of six Quaker contempla-
tives to focus our attention on the arduous and
ardent tasks of those who pioneered inwardly that
they might better work outwardly in the world.

May our Yearly Meetings be those places of
“true and free retirement ... where we might un-
disturbably wait upon God ... and being thereby
strengthened ... enter into the business of the
world again.” (Wm. Penn).

Shirley Ruth

Pacific Yearly Meeting 1980
Chico, California
Tentative Schedule

Sunday, August 3

10:00-5:00 Standing Committees on call by
Clerks

7:00

Representative Committee I

Monday, August 4

9:00

Representative Committee II

11:15

Orientation for first time attenders

11:45 - 1:15

Lunch

1:30

**SESSIONI: Roll Call
Sharing and Concerns

4:00

SESSION II: Meeting for Worship

5:00-6:30

Dinner

7:30

SESSION III: “State of Society”
Ministry and Oversight Committee

FRIENDS BULLETIN

JULY, 1980 - PAGE 155

Tuesday, August 5

7:00-8:15

Breakfast

8:15-9:30

Worship-Fellowship Groups

10:00

SESSION IV:

First report of Nominating Comm.
Discipline Committee Queries

11:45-1:15

Lunch

1:30-3:30

Interest and Sharing Groups

4:15

SESSION V: Meeting for Worship

5:00-6:30

Panel: “Gathered Meeting”
Arranged by Young Friends for all

8:15

SESSION VI:

Representative Committee Actions
First Report of Finance Committee
Greetings from FWCC
Friend in the Orient Report

Wednesday, August 6

7:00-8:15

Breakfast

8:15-9:30

Worship-Fellowship Groups

10:00-12:00

Quiet Morning

Meditation Rooms in Craig Hall

12:00-1:00

Hiroshima Day Vigil

11:45 - 1:15

Lunch (box lunches optional)

1:30-3:30

Interest and Sharing Groups

4:15

SESSION VII:
Meeting for Worship

5:00-6:30

Dinner

7:30

SESSION VIII

Peace Committee Concerns

Thursday, August 7

7:00-8:15

Breakfast

8:15-9:30

Worship-Fellowship Games

10:00

Representative Committee

10:00-11:30

Panel : “Discovering God’s Will”
Arranged by Young Friends for all

11:45 - 12:00

Lunch

1:30-3:30

Interest and Sharing Groups

4:00

SESSION IX:

Memorial Meeting for Worship

5:00-6:30

Dinner

7:30

SESSION X:

Social Order Committee Concerns

Friday, August 8

7:00-8:15

Breakfast

8:15-9:30

Worship-Fellowship Groups

10:00

SESSION XI:

Nominating Committee Report
Report of Treasurer & Finance
Committee

First Reading of Epistle

11:45 - 1:15

Lunch

1:30-3:00

Interest and Sharing Groups

3:00-4:00

Open Period

4:15

SESSION XII: Meeting for Worship

5:00-6:30

Dinner

7:30

Community Night
“Fun and Appreciation of Each
Other”

Saturday , August 9

7:00-8:15

Breakfast

8:15-9:15

Worship -Fellowship Groups

9:30

SESSION XIII:
Epistles

Sharing and Concerns

11:00

SESSION XIV: Meeting for Worship

12:00-1:15

Lunch

1:30-3:00

Evaluation with Representatives &

committee clerks

** All meetings indicated by the word SESSION
in capital letters are plenary sessions. Everyone is
welcome.

Arrangements Committee Notes for
PYM 1980

Friends arriving at Chico via train, plane, or
bus to attend PYM and needing transportation to
Craig Hall Complex please contact Elizabeth
Gustafson, 1808 Drexel Drive, Davis, CA 95616,
tel. 916/756-4495 or Ted Neff 932 Craig Place,
Davis, CA 95616, tel. 916/ 753-5890.

(Continued on page 156)

PAGE 156 -JULY, 1980,)

FRIENDS BULLETIN

(Arrangements: Cont. from page 155)

Miriam Von Seggern will be in charge of arts and
crafts this year, and would appreciate being con-
tacted by those planning to exhibit. Address:
15772 Sunnyvale Lane, Grass Valley, CA 95945,
tel. 916/272-1751

This year arrangements committee plans to reserve
the swimming pool at least one time during the
day for people who are interested in lap swimming.
Parents of Junior High children and younger are
encouraged to remind them of this.

Wanted: Volunteers for Pacific Yearly
Meeting Children’s Program

Dear Friends Coming to PYM,

Why do people volunteer to help in the
Children’s Program? Perhaps they are parents, or
wish to encourage children to stick with Quaker-
ism as they get older, or maybe they see children
aiding our spiritual awareness.

Our children coming to PYM are indeed lucky
to have so many of you able to share your unique
qualities with them. You will be supplying 75%
of the Person-Power that will implement the plans
of our paid staff. Filling our volunteer positions
will give our children adult companionship in the
ratio of five or six children to one adult. We
believe this is the key to nurturing, happy, har-
monious experiences.

We have times available mornings, afternoons,
and evenings for you to work with an age group-
ing up to 1 1 years. We hope you will make room
in your days at PYM to enrich and be enriched by
being with us.

Joan Marion, Coordinator
PYM Children’s Program

Fellowship of Poetry

Friends who love, learn from, and/or write poetry
are invited to join a “Fellowship of Poetry” which
will meet several times during Yearly Meeting.
Bring poems (your own, or another’s) which speak
significantly in your life, and which you want to
share. We will also do some “poetry games” which
may lead to new insights, new poems. Coordina-
tor, Jeanne Lohmann, San Francisco Meeting.

Quaker Contemplation

By Madge Seaver, Brinton Visitor
San Francisco Meeting

“There was a care on my mind so to pass my
time that nothing might hinder me from the most
steady attention to the voice of the true Shepherd.”
That is what John Woolman decided when he was
23 years old, a tailor and writer of wills, and a
traveling minister who had already started on a
path which did not end until the Society of
Friends cleared itself of slave-owning.

I start with Woolman’s testimony because it
tells us something about contemplation as a reli-
gious practice, its peculiar character in Quakerism,
and its outcome in life.

First, contemplation is seen as steady attention,
a listening in silence and expectancy, the kind of
undeviating regard we may give a flower or a
bird after we have identified and analyzed it and
just look at it. It is the stage of listening to music
when we are done with separating the parts and
analyzing them and arrive at T.S. Eliot’s image of
contemplation: “You are the music while the
music lasts.” It is what Tennyson means in

Flower in a crannied wall,

I pluck you out of the crannies.

I hold you here, root and all in my hand.
Little flower, - but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all
I should know what God and man is.

It is the meaning of Blake’s

To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower.

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.

These are examples of contemplation in general.

In every faith there have been contemplatives,
those who respond so wholly to God that the
spring and ground of their worship is this, still
point of the turning world, the meeting place of
time and eternity, the point of the timeless with
time, in Eliot’s words.

Do we think that contemplatives are a religious
elite, a select few, and that, therefore, most of us
are exempt from their experience? If I thought so,

I should take very little interest in contemplation.

It is because I am convinced that when the risen
Christ says in Revelation (3:20): “Behold, I stand
at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice
and opens the door, I will come in to him,” he

FRIENDS BULLETIN

JULY, 1980 - PAGE 157

means the door of the heart of anyone who is
“attentive to the voice of the true Shepherd” and
not of an elite.

Thomas Kelly tells of a German factory worker
whose language was ungrammatical, but “I was
taught by him, and nourished by him, and we
looked at each other eye to eye, and knew a com-
mon love of Christ.” Among others, we know
George Fox, a weaver’s son, who tells of his experi-
ence at the age of 25 of being “ravished with the
sense of the love of God” and of the busy states-
man, William Penn, who writes in No Cross, No
Crown: “Wherefore stand still in thy mind, wait
to feel something that is divine to prepare and dis-
pose thee to worship God truly... The power of
the Almighty will break in ... It is He that discovers
and presses upon the soul.” However, note that
the contemplative seeks God, not the ravishment
of the soul. William Littleboy in The Appeal of
Quakerism to the Non-Mystic sums up the result
of contemplation as the conformity of one’s will
to the will of God, ''not feeling but following, not
ecstacy, but obedience. ”

Finally, Barclay, author of the Apology, after
praising the Catholic contemplative, says: “God
has raised up a people to testify for it and preach
it to their great refreshment and strengthening ...
who do not as these mystics (i.e. the Catholic mon-
astics) make of it a mystery only to be attained by
a few men or women in a cloister ... but who in
the great love of God, who respects not persons ...
finding that God revealing and establishing this wor-
ship and making many poor tradesmen, yea, young
boys and girls, witnesses of it, do entreat and be-
seech all to lay aside their own will-worship and vol-
untary acts performed in their own wills.”

Moreover, Penn reminds us that “the Christian
convent and monastery are within, where the soul
is encloistered from sin. And this religious house
the true followers of Christ carry about with them,
who exempt not themselves from the conversation
of the world ... True Godliness doesn’t turn men
out of the world but enables them to live better in
it and excites their endeavors to mend it ... Besides
this humor runs away by itself and leaves the world
behind to be lost ...” Penn adds, however, that a
true and free retirement may be necessary among
Friends: “Nay, I have long thought it an error
among all sorts that use not monastic lives that
they have not retreats for the afflicted, the tempted,
the solitary and devout, where they might undis-
turbably wait upon God, pass through their reli-
gious exercises and, being thereby strengthened
may with more power over their own spirits.

enter into the business of the world again ... ”

We must now ask whether mystical worship, de-
fined as that form which puts the emphasis on im-
mediate awareness of relation to God, on direct
and intimate consciousness of the Divine Presence,
of which contemplation is the climax - is this wor-
ship the only real worship? There have been peri-
ods when Friends have scorned liturgical worship,
that is worship having a prescribed form, and
usually based on authority and tradition, including
assent to doctrines. There are at least two reasons
why this scorn is misplaced. For one thing, just as
Quaker worship with all its possibility of a living
encounter with the reality of God, may wither into
a lifeless form at times when our silent sitting is
merely a conformity to tradition, so may liturgy.
However, if we Ibok at liturgy at its best, it reminds
us eloquently of what we are about. Secondly, as
we have noted, silence may also become a prescribed
form rather than an open door to Reality. The his-
tory of Samuel Bownas in the habit of sitting Sun-
day after Sunday in drowsy silence is a good exam-
ple. Then Anne Wilson from the facing bench
directed her gaze and her message to Samuel: “A
traditional Quaker, thou comest to Meeting as
thou went from it, and goes from it as thou came
to it but, art no better for thy coming; what wilt
thou do in the end?” This piercing ministry gave
him a heavy heart at first, but later when his “mind
was fixed and stayed upon God ... a divine and
spiritual sweetness stayed with him night and day
for some time...”

We have noted that Quaker contemplation dif-
fers from that of other Christian contemplatives
such as St. John of the Cross and Juliana of Nor-
wich in that Friends always took for granted that
they would be involved in the work of the world
and family life; but there are also many similari-
ties in that both recognized that (1) contempla-
tion had steps or stages traditionally called purga-
tion, illumination, and union or infused prayer, all
functions of the Light as used by Fox; (2) visions,
trances, voices, ecstasies are not the aim of contem-
plation; and (3) techniques are not the way to con-
templation but a longing'for Reality, the inner eye
of love in William Johnston’s title.

A note here: meditation is not contemplation.
Meditation is a preparation for worship. It deals
with distractions by focussing the attention on
God in a deliberate consideration of some aspect
of the divine: grace, love, forgiveness.

In the second part of my theme, let us listen to
several Quaker contemplatives: Fox, Penington,
Woolman, Thomas Kelly, Rufus Jones, and

(Continued on page 158)

PAGE 158 -JULY, 1980

FRIENDS BULLETIN

( Conte mpla tion : Con t. from page 157)

Douglas Steere.

When Fox at the age of 19, disgusted by an ex-
ample of those professing religion spending their
time in trivialities, left home, village, and job to
travel over England, he was searching for the key
to true religion and a harmony between life and
faith. Finally , he realized that he had been looking
in the wrong place, “for I saw there was none
among them all that could speak to my condition.
And when all my hopes in them and in all men
were gone, so that I had nothing outwardly to
help me, nor could tell what to do, then, oh then,

I heard a voice which said, ‘There is one, even
Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition,’ and
when I heard it, my heart did leap for joy. Then
the Lord did gently lead me along. All things
were new; and all the creation gave another smell
unto me than before, beyond what words can
utter. I knew nothing but pureness and innocency
and righteousness; being renewed into the image
of God by Christ Jesus ... and that love let me see
myself as 1 was without him.” We must note, how-
ever, that along with this experience of mystical
union, there is also the prophetic emphasis of
Quakerism. Five years later at Swarthmoor in a
discussion with “four or five priests .. I asked them
whether any of them could say they ever had a
word from the Lord to go and speak to such or
such people and none of them durst say so. But
one of them burst out into a passion and said he
could speak his experiences as well as I; but I told
him experience was one thing but to go with a
message and a word from the Lord as the prophets
and apostles had and did, and as I had to them,
this was another thing.” “To go with a message”
as distinct from collecting experiences: a key
to the early publishing of Truth, and the later ser-
vice of material aid and reconciliation!

In Fox’s letter to Lady Claypole, who was
suffering from sickness and trouble of mind, he
speaks again of the contemplative way: “Be still
and cool in they own mind and spirit from thy
own thoughts, and then thou wilt feel the principle
of God to turn thy mind to the Lord God, whereby
thou wilt receive his strength and power from
whence life comes to allay all tempests, against all
blusterings and storms. That is it which moulds
up into patience, into innocency, into soberness,
into stillness, into stayedness, into quietness, up to
God and his power.” The letter is worth reading.
Fox adds that Lady Claypole said, “it settled and
stayed her mind for the present” and that it was
later read to distracted people “and it settled sev-

eral of their minds,” admirably modest claims. We
recognize similar advice in Fox’s epistle to Friends
who were experiencing disorders in the Meetings
for Worship: “And so in the Light standing still ...
you will feel the small rain, you will feel the fresh
springs ... your minds being kept low.”

Thanks to William Penn, twenty years younger
than Fox, and, although “bred at Oxford,” quali-
fied to be a minister of Christ, we know how Fox
affected the gently -reared Englishman: “Civil
beyond all forms of breeding in his behavior” and
“a new and heavenly -minded man”

Penn, himself, is evidence that a busy man of
affairs can also be a contemplative. In the intro-
duction to Fox\ Journal ]ust quoted, he writes;
“The world talks of God, but what do they do?
They pray for power but reject the principle in
which it is. If you would know God and worship
and serve God as you should do, you must come
to the means he has ordained and given for that
purpose. Some seek it in books, some in learned
men; but what they look for is in themselves,
though not of themselves, but they overlook it.
The voice is too still, the seed too small and the
light shineth in darkness; they are abroad ... But
the woman that lost her silver found it at home,
after she had lighted her candle and swept her
house ... Therefore, O friends, turn in, turn in,

I beseech you ...” Not only is this reminiscent of
Howgill’s “Return ... return ... Return home to
within, sv/eep your houses all, the groat is there,
the little leaven is there, the grain of mustard seed
you will see ... and you will see your Teacher.”
Penn takes us back to Augustine: “Too late loved
I thee, O thou Beauty of ancient days, yet ever
new. Too late I loved thee! And behold, thou
went within, and I abroad ... Thou wert with me,
but I was not with thee ...” So, too, Penn calls
upon us to “step home within yourselves ... and
be still ...” In order to hear God in “the tender
buddings,” Penn again and again recommends
silence: “Love silence even in the mind ... True
silence is to the spirit what sleep is to the body,
nourishment and refreshment.”

Isaac Penington, son of a prominent Parlia-
mentarian leader, was already 42 when he joined
the Quakers. First, he says, “I met with some
writings of this people called Quakers, which I
cast a slight eye upon and disdained, as falling
very short of that wisdom, life, and power which
I had been longing for and searching after ... After
a long time, I was invited to hear one of them ...
when I came, I felt the presence and power of the

FRIENDS BULLETIN

JULY, 1980- PAGE 159

Most High among them, and words of Truth from
the Spirit of Truth reaching to my heart and con-
science, opening my state as in the presence of the
Lord. Yea, I did not only feel words and demon-
strations from without, but I felt the dead quick-
ened, the seed raised; insomuch as my heart in the
certainty of light and clearness of true sense said,
‘This is he; this is he; there is no other. . .’ ”

Penington, like all contemplatives, draws us
away from “kindling a fire, compassing yourselves
about with the sparks of your own kindling, and
so please yourselves and walk in the light of your
own fire and the sparks which you have kindled,”
as William Penn put it. In Pen ingt on’s words,

“Give over thine own willing, give over thine
own running, give over thine own desiring to know
or be anything, and sink down to the seed which
God sows in thy heart and let that be in thee, and
grow in thee, and breathe in thee, and act in thee ...”
He says again, “But my spirit hasteneth from words
... that it may sink in spirit into the feeling of the
life itself, and may learn what it is to enjoy it
there and to be comprehended of it, and cease
striving to know or comprehend concerning it.”

In speaking about prayer, Penington echoes
Paul in Romans 8:26: “...we know not what we
should pray for as we ought, but the spirit itself
maketh intercession for us with groanings ...”

“Canst thou pray?” asks Penington. “How earn-
est thou to learn to pray? Wast thou taught from
above? Didst thou begin with sighs and groans,
staying there till the same spirit that taught thee
to groan, taught thee also to speak?”

“Prayer is the breath of the living child to the
Father of Life, in that spirit which quickened it,
which giveth it the right sense of its wants ...

So that mark: Prayer is wholly out of the will of
the creature; wholly out of the time of the crea-
ture; wholly out of the power of the creature; in
the spirit of the Father, who is the fountain of
life, and giveth forth breathings of life to his child
at his pleasure.”

John Woolman, writing almost a hundred years
after Penington and in a new land, in order to
express “my experience of the goodness of God,”
is the Quaker contemplative of the single eye, the
one whose whole body, as Jesus put it, was full of
light. One is struck by his frequent use of the
word pure: pure wisdom, pure truth, pure life,
pure spirit, pure love. It is striking that at the age
of seven, Woolman was impressed by that text
from Revelations 22: “He showed me a pure river
of life, clear as crystal.” Then the man says of him-

self as that child: “My mind was drawn to seek
after that pure habitation.” Long afterward he
remembered the sweetness that attended his mind.
Perhaps it was this contemplative spirit in Woolman
which prompted him to describe what Fox called
Light as “a principle which is pure, placed within
the human mind, which in different places and
ages hath had different names. It is, however, pure
and proceeds from God. It is deep and inward... ”

As we read Woolman’s Journal, we are struck by
his repeated calls to “an inward stillness”: “I was
early convinced in my mind that true religion con-
sisted in an inward life, wherein the heart doth love
and reverence God ...” “It is good for thee to
dwell deep,” he writes in a paper prepared for a
meeting for business, “that thou mayest feel and
understand the spirits of people.” But, of course,
what was striking about Woolman was the inward
stillness in combination with his labors with Friends
Meetings to convince them that slave-owning was
inconsistent with the Quaker profession of Truth
and with the slave-owner that slavery produced
luxury at the cost of an uneasy conscience and of
family happiness. Perhaps the contemplative
Woolman best reveals his integrity in his reflections
during his voyage to England: “0, how safe, how
quiet, is that state where the soul stands in pure
obedience to the voice of Christ and a watchful
care is maintained not to follow the voice of the
stranger! Here Christ is felt to be our Shepherd
and under his leading people are brought to a stabil-
ity; and where he doth not lead forward, we are
bound in the bonds of pure love to stand still and
wait upon him.”

Our fourth contemplative, Rufus Jones, was
early convinced that Quakerism belonged among the
mystical religious movements about which he wrote
so much. While some contemporary Friends now
argue that Quakerism in its foundation was pro-
phetic rather than mystical and can be seen as one
extrem.e of the Puritan spectrum, Rufus Jones him-
self was aware of no such conflict, for his defini-
tion tends to include rather than exclude: “Reli-
gious mysticism is an attempt to realize the presence
of God in the soul. Tt is grounded in the fact that a
direct intercourse between the human soul and God
is possible; and its ultimate goal is the attainment of
a state in which God shall cease to be an external
object and shall become known by experience of
the heart.” While he was “cautious about expecting
secret messages from sociable angels” and he drew
a clear distinction between real relationship with

(Continued on page 160)

PAGE 160 - JULY, 1980

FRIENDS BULLETIN

(Contemplation: Cont. from page 159)

God and purely psychic events, two events of his
youth point to the fact that he knew this relation-
ship to be an inward fact. He was studying in
France and went for “a solitary walk, absorbed
with my thoughts about the meaning and purpose
of my life, wondering if I should every get myself
organized and brought under the control and direc-
tion of some constructive central purpose of life,
when I felt that the walls between the visible and
the invisible suddenly grew thin, and I was con-
scious of a definite mission of life opening out be-
fore me. I remember kneeling down alone in a
beautiful forest glade and dedicating myself then
and there in the quiet and silence, but in the pre-
sence of an invading Life, to the work of inter-
preting the deeper nature of the soul and its rela-
tion to God.”

Then some years later on his voyage to England,
where he was to give a series of lectures at Wood-
brooke,he wrote that ‘T suddenly felt myself sur-
rounded by an enfolding Presence and held as
though by invisible arms ... My entire being was
fortified and I was inwardly prepared to meet the
message of sorrow which was awaiting me the
next day at the dock.” The message of sorrow was
a cable announcing the death of his little son.

Rufus Jones, like William Johnston, emphasized
the mysticism of the New Testament rather than
the NeoPlatonic emphasis on ecstasy and an affirm-
ative rather than a negative way. However, he
wrote, “There is a type of ecstatic state, of inspira-
tion and illumination, which seems to me to be a
most glorious attainment and very near to the goal
of life - a state of concentration, of unification, of
liberation, of discovery, of heightened and intensi-
fied powers, and withal, a burst of joy ...” “The
focal idea of this type of mysticism,” he wrote,

“is the glowing faith that there is something divine
in man which under right influences and responses
can become the dominant feature of a person’s
whole life.”

As a young man, Thomas Kelly was a restless
and ambitious student. When he came under the
influence of Rufus Jones at Haverford, he found a
focus which drove him to exclaim, “I am just
going to make my life a miracle.” Part of the
miraculous quality of his life is the effect that A
Testament of Devotion has had on a great variety
of persons in the decades since his death. In sev-
eral quotations from that little book and The
Reality of the Spiritual World, we find reminders
of the steady attention, the whole-hearted listen-
ing, the undeviating regard of my opening

definitions.

“Deep within us all there is an amazing inner
sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Cen-
ter, a Speaking Voice to which we may continu-
ously return. Eternity is at our hearts, pressing
upon our time-worn lives, warming us with intima-
tions of an astounding destiny, calling us home to
itself ...” “In this Center of Creation all things
are ours, and we are Christ’s and Christ is God’s.”
“Here is not ecstasy but serenity, unshakableness,
firmness of life-orientation.”

“We may suppose these depths of prayer are
our achievement ... But this humanistic account
misses the autonomy of the life of prayer ... this
inner level has a life of its own, invigorated not by
us but by a divine Source.” In Holy Obedience,
thinking of George Fox as a youth, he addresses,
“Parents, if some of your children are seized by
this imperative God-hunger, don’t tell them to
snap out of it and get a job, but carry them pa-
tiently in your love, or at least keep hands off
... Young people, you who have in you the stirrings
of perfection, the sweet, sweet rapture of God him-
self within you, be faithful ...”

Thomas Kelly speaks of Pascal’s high experience
in which he met “not the God of the philosophers,
but the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” - in
other words, the God who seeks persons.

Read in The Eternal Now and Social Concern:
“Time is no judge of Eternity. It is the Eternal
who is the judge and tester of time.” “Do you
really want to live your lives, every moment of
your lives, in His presence? Do you long for him?

... Do you love His presence?”

Douglas Steere, our contemporary, was also a
student of Rufus Jones at Haverford and took
Rufus Jones’ place as a teacher of philosophy. In
Work and Contemplation he describes a human
being as an amphibian animal with a mingling of
homo faber (i.e. the worker or maker) and homo
contemplativus. In other words, to be truly hu-
man, one must both work and contemplate:

“Work without contemplation is bitter and blind
... but contemplation without work is callous and
empty.” “Contemplation is usually described in
metaphysical terms borrowed from the operation
of the eye. It means to gaze steadily at some-
thing, to look at it calmly, continuously, atten-
tively, and searchingly.” He quotes Aquinas: “a
simple, unimpeded and penetrating gaze on truth.”
There are a number of presuppositions in con-
templation, Douglas Steere writes:

1 . We are confronted with a given with which
we are not identical;

FRIENDS BULLETIN

JULY 1980 -PAGE 161

2. from which we are in some way separated.

3. There is an otherness to be overcome,

4. an abyss of mystery whose last veil we never
penetrate.

5. There is an encounter, a meeting, an appro-
priate response called for.

6. It is intensely alive.

7. If, in this meeting with the given, we do
respond appropriately, it will yield us some
of fts truth.

At the end of Contemplation and Leisure,

Douglas Steere writes of the fruits of contempla-
tion. But contemplation is self-justifying. It is
good in itself. He quotes the Zen disciple who had
withdrawn from the world for many years and is
asked what he has learned as a result. “Nothing
much, just softness of heart.”

I think this is what Eliot meant in the Four
Quartets:

Old men ought to be explorers

Here and there does not matter

We must be still and still moving

Into another intensity

For a further union, a deeper communion

Through the dark cold and the empty desolation...

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

Call to Support a
National Peace Academy

Grace Myers, AFSC Liason
Santa Monica Meeting

It was discouraging to see so little result from
the introduction in 1976 of legislation to estab-
lish a Peace Academy. Newspapers, magazines,

TV and radio failed to give coverage in proportion
to the timely need for a positive peace program.

October 15, 1978, Congress passed the Peace
Academy Commission Act which was signed into
law November 1 , 1978. Hearings were held in the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Senate
Human Resources Committee, and the House
Committee on International Relations. October 12,

1979, Congress appropriated $500,000 for the
operation of the Commission, and the funds be-
came available to the Commission January 10,

1980.

It is common knowledge that the United States
currently funds:

West Point Army Academy (1802)

Annapolis Naval Academy (1845)

U.S. Coast Guard Academy (1876)

U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (1938)

Air Force Academy (1954)
all of which have four year college level curricula
leading to the Bachelor of Science degrees. The
Secretary of Defense is a Cabinet level executive.

We clearly need a National Academy of Peace
and Conflict Resolution with a curriculum leading
to a Bachelor’s degree. We also need a Secretary of
Peace at the Cabinet level.

The Peace Academy Commission is charged
with conducting an investigation to determine
whether to establish a United States Academy of
Peace and Conflict Resolution. Current material on
the proposed Peace Academy is available by writ-
ing to:

William J. Spencer, Director

U.S. Commission on Proposals for the
National Academy of Peace and Conflict
Resolution

2100 M Street, NW, Suite 714

Washington, DC 20037 Phone: 202/653-5665

Formal testimony submitted before the end of
July to Mr. Spencer at the above address will be
considered in the report of the Commissioners to
the President and Congress.

PAGE 162 -JULY, 1980

FRIENDS BULLETIN

What Do Quakers Mean by “Inward Light”? The Mystery of Light

By John Fitz
Berkeley Meeting

Friends, I have grave doubts about our use of
the term “inward light.” Though hallowed by long
use among Friends, it seems to me that it has come
to be used in an almost idolatrous manner: as the
excuse for each of us being unquestionable in our
leadings, as a near-physical entity inside us that
“speaks” to us (in voices?), as a Goddish substance/
characteristic/organ we have that glows like a
candle or a light bulb whenever we sit in meeting. I
see us as having drifted or fallen into a worship of
this postulated entity, and as attributing to it per-
sonalized properties making it a denizen or being
within us. Whenever I hear Friends speak of “con-
sulting” their “Inner Light,” or of having “dialogue’
with an “inner guide,” I see us as having gotten
cauglit up in a new form of angel -worship, a new
form of pantheism, a new form of mythology.

I feel certain that most Friends do not have this
same reaction to the phrase “inner light,” nor do
they really intend all these connotations, but if not,
then, what do Friends mean by it? I know that
when I sit in meeting I am not trying to “get in
touch with” or “listen to” or “dialogue with” some
imagined inner entity; but I am trying to be peace-
ful and calm and loving and accepting, not so much
of myself as of other people. I know that what is
important to me, in meeting and in silence, is not
what / think or say, but what other people think
and say. 1 would say that I have faith in myself,
but I know that I can be wrong; and I do not invent
some kind of holy authority for whatever I happen
to think. It does not seem to me that we ought to
imagine entities within us or without us control-
ling or advising us, or even giving us insight.

So what I am saying is that I do not describe
my own meditative processes as involving “light,”
either “inner” or some other kind, and I do not
understand whether other Friends mean it literally
or metaphorically, but it sounds to me as if they
mean it literally , and if they mean it metaphori-
cally, I would rather that we use ordinary words
rather than mystical metaphors to describe it, such
as insight or understanding or personal conviction.

I do describe my own meditative processes as inv
involving acceptance, and love, and feeling one-
ness with others.

It’s said there’s Inward Light in me
Which brightly burns for all to see.

Now if I had another choice.

Instead of light, to hear a voice.

Like Samuel of old, who heard
(Though no one else) God’s spoken word.
Impelling him to word and deed.

Could I not from sin’s thrall be freed?

To venture forth around the earth
And to the gospel give rebirth?

A voice and words is clearer, sure.

Than light, no matter mixed or pure.
Because I must interpret light
In words, but can I get them right?

How can I know the words I choose
Are those which God would have me use?
And even if there were no doubt.

In me or anyone, about
The way I did my light express;

How often, still, we all must guess
What inner feelings really mean.

Or what the vision we have seen
Relates to, or to what events?

Are they past, or are they hence?

Are they now, or are they then?

Must I ask the light again?

But words would not these questions raise,
And of their source I could sing praise.
And do whate’er they told me to
Provided that their sense I knew.

For now a fault with this I see:

If God should speak in words to me
Why should it speak in my own tongue
Of all the languages among
The peoples of the earth; then, why?

For others know as much as I.

Alas! I can’t trust light or sound.

So where can truth and love be found?
There is no “light” within to burn
like candles; nor a “voice” to turn
My feet into some chosen way .

I can but do from day to day
The things I see which need be done,

To make life flow for everyone.

John Fitz

FRIENDS BULLETIN

JULY, 1980- PAGE 163

Willamette Quarterly Meeting

May 3-4, 1980

4-H Center, near Salem, OR

Richard Bear, Siuslaw Worship Group

Two beautiful sunny days made it possible for
us to gather outside for all sessions in this rural
setting. During the quiet of Meeting for Worship,
the HELP cries of peacocks startled us, hear-
ing them before we saw them. Stellar jays and
other birds added to the aliveness of the silence.

Interest groups: Education in the Meeting, Sac-
rament of Touch, Dialog on Symbols as Openings,
Worship-Sharing, and one on the budding Firbank
Farm near Deadwood, a non-profit Quaker educa-
tional venture mentioned elsewhere in the Friends
Bulletin.

Next year’s officers approved: Mary Etter
(Eugene) Qerk; Henry Van Dyke (Corvallis)
Treasurer; Tom Holling (Corvallis) and Blair
Gardner (Multnomah) Junior Friends Advisers;
Janet Berleman (Multnomah) continues as Record-
ing Qerk.

Dates for Quarterly Meeting: November 1-2,
1980; January 31, 1981 and April 25-26, 1981.

State of Society reports included an exhibit of
a cloth mural on the Peaceable Kingdom developed
by Corvallis Meeting as Quaker history was studied
and brought up to date; a fine statement on what
membership means by Eugene Meeting (see March
Eugene Newsletter for entire statement). Salem
has introduced an half hour of singing before Meet-
ing for Worship and has started a Newsletter.
Multnomah’s “Call and effort to listen” has
resulted in both corporate actions and support of
individual concerns. Mt. View Worship Group
welcomes visitors to their Meeting on third Sundays
at the Episcopal Church in Hood River, Bret
Stafford reported. Deadwood Worship Group,
under care of Corvallis Meeting, is now calling it-
self Siuslaw Worship Group as it includes individ-
uals from outside the Deadwood area.

On Sunday prior to worship, we shared what
different Meetings are doing about registration for
the draft, and heard a report on the pacifist demon-
stration in Salem on Saturday, attended by some
Friends from the Quarter.

Report of Northwest Quarterly Meeting
April 18-20, 1980

Jocelyn Dohm, Olympia Meeting

Weeping Washington skies failed to dampen the
spirits of 130 Friends (counting 6 pre-schoolers)
gathered at lakeside Camp Gwinwood near
Olympia for the spring Northwest Quarterly
Meeting. From the hot popcorn around a cheery
fire Friday evening to heel-of-the-loaf sandwiches
Sunday noon, the attenders found plenty of rea-
sons to make this a typical Quakerly weekend.

Chuck James carried out the duties of Clerk,
with a business session marked principally by an
anti-draft/peace resolution spawned by an interest
group on the subject, and refined by a special com-
mittee before affirmation by the whole meeting.
Another interest group drawing the largest attend-
ance was on Healing through Meditation. The usu-
al lively Family Night included a youthful Friend’s
depiction of Mt. St. Helens in eruption. An
impromptu evening speaker gave an articulate and
compelling discussion of an Economic Conversion
plan gathering force in Seattle.

An utterance during the final meeting for wor-
ship echoed the general feeling: “The spoken mes-
sages have reached a depth commensurate with the
silences.”

Southern California Quarterly Meeting --
May 18, 1980

Wilma Gurney, Reporter SCQM,

Westwood Meeting

The 56th Session of SCQM was hosted by
Orange County Friends Meeting. An innovation
opened Meeting for Worship. The “Orange Grove
Thespians” brought us “There Is A Light.” We
were with James Naylor when he received his
call of the Spirit and when George Fox helped him
accept his mission. Along with James Naylor we
saw and heard how he was so overwhelmed by the
call and its response by others that he blocked out
the Spirit, only to find the Light within himself
while imprisoned in his dark and lonely cell. Vocal
ministries reflected our “calls.” We have a call to
be patterns for “that of God Within,” but must
avoid feeling we are better than others. Calls be-
came queries. How can we, who do not have need
for certainty , expect the world to accept our mes-

( Continued on page 164)

PAGE 164 - JULY, 1980

FRIENDS BULLETIN

(SCQM: Cont. from page 163)
sage while we continue to seek? How can our
searching and service help others recognize “that of
God in everyone”? What will move us, as a meet-
ing of people, to gather others into a momentum
for living in peace with God?

Meeting for Worship continued while State of
Meeting Reports were read. Claremont’s numbers
are increasing. Friends are bringing friends. Groups
for study, sharing, singing, and acting on concerns
involve a spectrum of ages. Few children for First
Day School is disappointing. One of their queries
asks, “How are we living our Peace Testimony?”
Santa Monica feels it is becoming a concerned com-
munity. First Day School is active. A letter writing
table brings signatures in confirmation of concerns.
All are happy for Ruth Kennedy on her 90th birth-
day, June 1 , 1980. They have faith that life is re-
creating in us every moment. Whitleaf com-
munity as an evolving pattern during their thirty
years. Peace and Social Concerns remain strong
and cooperation continues with CYM. There are
few active adults, but commitment continues.
Westwood’s central themes included the desire for
closer fellowship and the need to accept diversity.
Doing is the keyword with Peace and Social Con-
cerns. Meetings for Learning had varied subject

SCQM’s theme for the year is “Nurturing Per-
sonal Relationships.” Small groups considered
childhood friendships in “dialogue” fashion to
help us re-experience relationships far enough
away to be relatively unthreatening. An experi-
ence of childhood friendship was related by each
one, followed by recollections of changes in that
friendship. We were asked to consider what we
may learn from those childhood friendships.
Experiences were varied! For somQ there was
limited opportunity for sustained relationships
because of frequent family moves. Some remain
close to those they knew in childhood, while
others recalled those friendships with varying
degrees of searching and reliving. On reflection
some seemed to be awakened to a meaning of that
friendship not recognized previously. Hopefully,
as we look at the meanings of friendships from the
past, we can better understand the qualities for
nurturing relationships in the present.

Concern for the increasing militant stance of
the United States formed the major issues for
action by Peace and Social Order Committee.
Counseling is available to Meetings and other
groups concerned with Registration, Draft, and
War Tax Resistance. Meetings are active with

many issues including prison visitation, death
penalty, hunger coalition, while continuing to work
with AFSC, FCL, FCNL, El Centro de Paz, etc.

SCQM was privileged to affirm the concern of
Bob Vogel in his participation with a group travel-
ling in Russia. Following PYM in August, Bob
will join a study group led by Russell Johnson.

It is hoped opportunities for significant interchange
will occur, leading to more effective communica-
tion between our peoples. SCQM’s theme of
“Nurturing Personal Relationships” will be carried
by Bob in body and spirit.

PYM Peace Committee Plans
For Yearly Meeting

By Ellen Lyon, Delta Meeting and
Clerk of Peace Committee

We are planning a noon hour vigil during PYM
on August 6, Hiroshima Day, which will include
adults and children of PYM as well as members of
the Chico religious/peace communities. There
will be interest groups sponsored by the Peace
Committee on Friends and Conscription, War Tax
Resistance, Toward a Human World Order, and
The World Would Be Better If - What Can We Do?
Consideration of the La Jolla Monthly Meeting’s
leading to support a Friend or Friends financially
who have a concern to travel to Russia on a peace
mission will be considered, perhaps in a Plenary
Session.

The Peace Committee will be meeting at PYM
on August 3 at 10:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. and on
the 4th between 1 1 :00 a.m. and 1 :30 p.m. These
meetings are open to Meeting representatives as
well as to concerned Friends.

YFNA Annual Conference

West Coast Quakers have an unusual opportunr
ity. This year. Young Friends of North America’s
annual conference will be on the West Coast at
John Woolman School, July 27 to August 2. Most
of us are between the ages of 16 and 35, but there
are no limits. If you don’t think of yourself as a
Young Friend, but can drop in to visit, please do.
For further information, write to Susan Moon,
4023 Paxton St., Cincinnati, OH 45209. The con-
ference fee is $42.

FRIENDS BULLETIN

JULY, 1980- PAGE 165

If You Share Our Concern

We write to seek support from Friends (individ-
uals and Meetings) in our concern about discus-
sions at the forthcoming UN Special Session on
The New International Economic Order (NIEO),
August 25 to September 5th. The Quaker UN
Office has special responsibility for the area of
Transnational Corporations in the NGO Forum
part.

Our concern is that the Special Session must
include discussion of the economic and political
inequities within as well as among the nations of
the world. For in most countries, whether devel-
oped or developing, the poor are getting poorer
while the rich are getting richer.

The elite in the Third World cry hypocrisy
when the elite in the developed world call upon
them to give more attention to human rights and
“basic needs,” citing centuries of exploitation by
the developed world: the pot doesn’t like the ket-
tle calling it black.

Therefore, our main concern is that the forth-
coming Special Session include serious discussion
as to how it is that the economic and political
structures of the industrialized countries (whether
capitalist or socialist/communist) have produced
such gross inequities, such as mass starvation and
poverty, such disregard for basic inalienable rights,
and the nuclear hazards which loom so ominously
today.

Our hope is that such discussion will lead to
viable alternatives to both traditional capitalist and
traditional communist political/economic structures.
For each exploit criminally, though in different
ways. And these are not the only viable alterna-
tives. That is why we intend to encourage such
discussion at the forthcoming UN Special Session,
especially in the NGO Forum part. We have a
slide presentation designed to do this.

The Quaker UN Office shares our concern.

But they are in a difficult position, for it is a
touchy issue in a club whose members are elite-
dominated nation states, each with a status quo to
defend.

Any support or comments will be forwarded to
us if addressed c/o McBeen, Box 665, Westwood,

CA 96137 (916) 256-3034. If mailed in August
send c/o Quaker UN Office, 111 UN Plaza, New
York, NY 10017.

In fellowship ,

A1 Andersen and Dorothy Norvell Andersen

Letters

Eternally Y ours, Ralph and Maude Powell’s
Legacy of Letters

Dear Friends,

I thoroughly enjoyed my involvement in this pro-
ject of preparing Maude and Ralph’s beautiful let-
ters for publication. I believe they contain impor-
tant insight and inspiration for all of us in the 1980’s,
and into the 21st century.

The lives which are coming together so profoundly
in these letters went forward to make a real differ-
ence for peace and truth and love, and simplicity
in the various places where they lived and worked.
People have been touched by their idealism and
faith: Michigan where they grew up and went to
school; Yale, then Changsha, Hunan province with
Yale-in-China; Columbus, Ohio where they lived
for 30 years; Allenspark, Colorado, where they
spent summers; and Berkeley, California, where
they retired in 1958. Readers of these letters are
privileged to have an intimate glimpse into the for-
mative years of two outstanding lives.

Eternally Yours may be ordered by contacting
Maude Powell at: 2153 Vine Street, Berkeley, CA
94709. Cost is $8 for paperback; a few hardback
copies are available for $10.

Happy reading!

Sincerely,

Rose Lewis

RE: Errata in Bob Vogel’s article in Eriends Bulletin,
May, 1980 issue

Dear Editor,

“The United States voted to honor the creden-
tials of the Pol Pot group, not the Vietnamese sup-
ported Heng Samrin group.” (In article and was
used.)

This is significant, because U.S. recognition of
Pol Pot gives his group the hope and encourage-
ment that they may overthrow the Heng Samrin
group. Further, it makes U.S. direct aid through
Phnom Penh impossible.

There is an effort now under way by AFSC and
others to ask the U.S. i;o recognize neither group
when the matter comes before the UN Assembly in
(Continued on page 166)

PAGE 166- JULY, 1980

FRIENDS BULLETIN

(Letters: Cont. from page 165)

September, thus leaving the Cambodian seat open,
pending a negotiated settlement of the civil conflict.

Bob Vogel

Firbank Farm

Richard Bear, Siuslaw Worship Group

A 72-acre family farm in the Coast Range of
Oregon is in the process of becoming Firbank Farm,
a rural community whose main business will be to
explore simple living under Qirist’s t

explore simple living under Shri

explore simple living under Christ’s teaching, shar-
ing that experience with others through a secondary
boarding school, retreats, seminars, workshops and
workcamps.

This nonprofit venture will be as self-supporting
as possible through farming, cottage industries and
forest management, providing an environment in
which country skills are learned along with academic
subjects.

The name of Firbank Farm derives from Firbank
chapel in Westmoreland, England, where George
Fox in 1652 preached the Gospel to over a thou-
sand people out-of-doors: “I directed all to the
spirit of God in themselves, that they might be
turned from darkness to the Light ... and might
come to know Christ to be their teacher...”

This summer a workcamp is scheduled for 8th
month, 10th through 17th, to put the buildings,
grounds and fences in order. Inquiries and corres-
pondence may be addressed to Maria K. Baird,

Clerk, Firbank Farm, 93969 Deadwood Creek Rd.,
Deadwood, OR 97430. The telephone number is
(503) 964-3783.

AFSC Administrative Openings

The American Friends Service Committee seeks:
Regional Executive Secretary and Fund Raiser in
San Francisco, and Regional Coordinator in Chica-
go. In Philadelphia, openings for Finance Secre-
tary and Personnel Secretary. All require experi-
ence in staff and program development, interpre-
tation, budgeting, general administration, and fa-
miliarity with AFSC, Friends. Inquiries and sug-
gestions encouraged, send to: Personnel, AFSC,

1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia, PA 19102. AFSC is
an Affirmative Action Employer.

Berkeley Meeting Invites Friends to the
Circle of Concern

Margaret Olney, Berkeley Meeting

We, of Berkeley Friends Meeting, invite all of
you planning to attend PYM to stop off in Berkeley
on Sunday August 3rd, on your way to Chico, to
take part in a public witness against further research
and development of nuclear weapons. There will
be a silent vigil on the perimeter of the UC Campus
from 1 :30 - 2:30 p.m. We chose this site because
the University continues to manage two weapons
laboratories. University Hall, the state-wide UC
Administration Building, is at Oxford St. and
University Ave., directly across the street from
where we will gather.

Following the vigil, there will be a short program
marking the anniversary of the bombing of Hiro-
shima and Nagasaki and pointing to a future free
of such weapons. A message from the group will
be communicated to the UC Board of Regents.

If you can come and wish to spend the night of
August 2nd in the Bay Area, we will try to find a
place for you to stay. For more information, call
415/848-8055 or 843-9725, John Merlin, Clerk,
Sandra Gey, Peace & Social Order Clerk and
Margaret Olney, Circle of Concern.

Memorial Minutes

Clara M. Schwieso

Our beloved member, Clara M. Schwieso, passed
away May 18, 1980, at age 79, and a memorial
service was held in our Meeting House, May 27,
1980. Paul Seaver presided, giving the introduc-
tory explanations and summing up Clara’s charac-
ter from the Epistle of James, “Peaceable, gentle
and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good
fruits.” It was noted that Clara died just six
months and two days after her husband, Charles
(Chuck) and that they had celebrated their 50th
wedding anniversary September 8, 1979.

Clara’s sister, Molly Warner, attended Clara’s
memorial and the Schwieso’s children - Charles
from Miami, and Gretchen Ferrin and her husband,
DiVere Ferrin of Areata, and their children, Ian of
Eureka, Douglas of Philadelphia, and Margaret of
Areata.

Many members and attenders spoke, all expres-
sing the beauty and joy of Clara’s character, her

FRIENDS BULLETIN

JULY, 1980 - PAGE 167

ability to make the best of every situation, for ex-
ample, when Chuck came home with a set of
beautiful dishes instead of the needed washing
machine, she rejoiced in the dishes, and said the
washing machine could wait.

Even in her last illness she reached out to others
with her thoughtful consideration and was loved
by all, including the nurses who served her. She
loved her relatives dearly and all children. Memor-
ial contributions are suggested for Palo Alto Meet-
ing or a favorite charity.

Elsie Renne, Corresponding Clerk
Margaret W. Glenn

A member of Palo Alto Meeting, Margaret
(“Peggy”) Woodruff Glenn, died in Bellingham,
Washington, March 23 at age 59. She was Associ-
ate Clerk at one time, but had not attended for a
number of years. Memorial contributions or
notes may be sent to her daughter, Laurie Glenn,
724 N. Forest Street, Bellingham, Washington
98225.

Elsie Renne, Corresponding Clerk

News of the Meetings

Worship and Ministry: Care for One Another

Mountain View “assembled a wonderful two-volume
photo album of Friends,” including name cards for
personal information about each. Many Meetings
report Spring retreat gatherings of the Quaker fam-
ily {Berkeley, Olympia, San Francisco). From
Berkeley's State of the Meeting report: “Many new
people are coming to our meeting for worship who
are not acquainted with Friends’ ways. We have a
concern about how to be responsive to everyone who
is there and still keep the meeting centered. This
will doubtless be an on-going problem which may be-
come more difficult to resolve as world tensions
grow. . . Strawberry Creek Meeting has been recog-
nized as a full Monthly Meeting during this year. We
rejoice in their new status. Some of us feared their
departure would leave a large hole in our meeting.

We have, instead, received a new vitality and sense
of meeting family. A marvelous sense of morale and
working together in caring for the property has been
reported. Small groups flourished — for study, for
fellowship.” San Francisco reports: “We have relied
less on outside speakers. . . and have met together
with ourselves more often. . . We have shared our
talents in music, poetry, movement and drama in for-

mal presentations, as well as. . .in countless informal
ways. Our diversity has well promoted spiritual
growth among us.

From a letter in Pima’s newsletter: “To ac-
cept the phrase ‘There is that of God in every man’
means to give up the right to think of your religion
as better than someone else’s, or to treat ‘good’
individuals well and ‘bad’ ones badly.” Delta’s
newsletter carried an autobiographical sketch of our
former PYM clerk, Catherine Bruner, which says, in
part: “The way I was received by Evanston (Illinois)
Friends was so genuinely welcoming that I went
back, and then back again; and so I attended faith-
fully for a year and a half before I brought myself
to the point of asking for membership. One goes
at first wondering what will happen and somewhat
dependent on what people will have to say; but as
one goes back communion becomes direct and
searching and renewing. . .” Honolulu quotes A.
Neave Brayshaw: “Recognizing that our end is one,
even though the work of each has its own emphasis,
we shall not want to be always out of one another’s
sight, casually hearing of what others are doing.

Many of our members so far give their attention to
what is called ‘outside work’ as to leave them with
little interest in the Society itself. . . I would propose
that each congregation should. . .come together. . .
and hear from one and another not only of his work
done for the church outside his own congregation,
but also of his ‘outside work. . .’ ”

Education and Good Order

Santa Barbara has a weekly meeting to study /pon-
der the Psalms; selections are made by group choice
and the commentaries and meditations are shared.
Multnomah’s reading group is beginning with
Thomas a Kempis’ Imitation of Christ. Berkeley has
started a bi-monthly gathering for poetry lovers,
readers, and writers. Pima has a weekly worship
and reading group. Orange Grove presented “There
is a Spirit,” Annette Marcus’ play about James
Nayler, for Meeting and for the Quarter. San Fran-
cisco reports, “Our meetings for business, while well
attended in general, suffer from delays in getting
started, and early departures. We have sometimes
been too verbose, and inconsiderate of each other. . .
we have questioned our role in larger Quaker organi-
zations, striving to see that individual caring does
not get lost in institutional processes.” Strawberry
Creek’s minutes record the number of Friends pre-
sent at the opening and closing of Meeting for busi-
ness (a recent variable of only two at the end of a
long meeting). Honolulu ’s clerk reminds us that

(Continued on page 168)

PAGE 168 -JULY, 1980

FRIENDS BULLETIN

{News of Meetings: Cont. from page 167)
“participation in Meeting takes it out of you, Meet-
ing for Worship puts it back!” Eastside’s concern
regarding membership : that we ask prospective mem-
bers, “What role and place do you expect the Meet-
ing to play in your life, and what. . . do you expect
in the Meeting?” Palomar is concerned over how a
small meeting can use (or not use) committees for
conducting business. . . “We should act as a single
body and conduct business more informally.” Marin
minuted a proposal that College Park become a Year-
ly Meeting.

Peace and Social Concerns

Phoenix held a meeting concerned with “Gangs and
Racial Tension,” and will begin a fall series of dia-
logues on “The Spiritual Roots of Social Concerns.”
Eastside held a special Meeting potluck with Junior
Friends sharing leadership for an experience in con-
flict resolution. The Meeting participated in a New
Call to Peacemaking retreat weekend and has asked
its early C.O.’s to put into writing the stories of
“how they faced the draft,” with particular emphasis
on reasons given to draft boards. Multnomah is pre-
paring for the arrival of a refugee family of four
adults and three children , and the closing minute for
the meeting where the decision was made states:

“The meeting rose following deep worship and thank-
fulness for this opportunity for service.” Friends sup-
ported the visit of Bill Sutherland, AFSC’s six-year
staff representative in Southern Africa. Berkeley's
Peace and Social Order Committee arranged for
Meeting to serve Costa Rican coffee, grown by small
producers. Mountain View's committee set up an
information file on concerns. A soup-making pro-
ject earned money for AFSC. Delta approved
endorsing and helping pay for a newspaper ad when
and if the draft registration passes Congress. The
Meeting also sponsored a conference on this issue.

La Jolla approved and sent a letter suggesting the use
of an international court to deal with all sides of
the hostage situation in Iran. Davis continues letter
writing sessions on current issues, following an even-
ing frugal meal. Santa Barbara's Prison Visitation
Committee has been actively involved with the
I>eonard Peltier defense group and continues to be
in touch with the men who were moved from Lom-
poc to other prisons, including Marion, “the harsh-
est and most feared of all U.S. penitentiaries.”
Redwood Forest provides speakers and material fo^
draft counseling work among high school students.
Fresno participates in a letter-writing project re-
garding peace in the Middle East. Honolulu's retiring
residents, Tom and Grace Nelson, report as they
leave this post, that “(it) is not an easy thing to

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do. . .an average of over five meetings per week
have been held this past year, 156 guests have been
accommodated, Hmong refugees’ needlework sales
have amounted to $3,622.00, recycled clothing goes
in quantity to Kuhio Park Terrace. . .and Tonga.
Hunger Fund supplies have come in well.”

Baltimore Yearly Meeting's Creative Conflict Resolu-
tion group sponsored an experimental workshop to
enable Friends to communicate on the subject of
abortion, an effort to engage in “truly free, open,
honest dialogue. . .to determine on what we do
agree.” And in a recent Modesto Peace/Life Center
bulletin Sam Tyson {Delta} notes: “The one thing
in Modesto which raises passions to white heat is
not war/peace, abortion, nuclear/solar power, the
urbanization of farm land, but public education.”

Vital Statistics
Marriages:

Bill Thiederman and Keitha Scott, under care of
Orange Grove Meeting, May 17, at the Meetinghouse.

Robin Staxrud and Brian Lohans, under the care of
Fresno Meeting, May 4, on a hillside near Reedley,
CA.

Births:

Alexander Kenneth McDougal, born March 27 to
Nadine and Jack McDougal, Berkeley Meeting.
Hannah Camming Snyder, born May 17, 1980 to
Jane and Joseph SnydQx , Multnomah Meeting.